More than 2,500 nineteenth and twentieth century photographs of African Americans

Portraits of Black families and individuals in the 1890s

Unsurpassed by any other institution in New England, and one of the finest of its kind in the world, the collection's major subject areas include slavery in the U.S., the Abolitionist movement, the Civil War and Emancipation, the Reconstruction era, Black Resistance and the Civil Rights movement.

Other areas of interest include major artistic, literary, and political figures, the Black church, military participation, satire and stereotypical commentary.

We've recently acquired several interesting and beautiful pieces:

Carrie Mae Weems' set of china plates

Commemorating and May Flowers from May Days Long Forgotten

A Man by Charley Palmer

Photographs from Sheila Pree Bright's Young Americans series.

Visit our galleries to experience a part of American history that's rarely seen from this personal point of view.